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Keywords: Tales

  • INTERNATIONAL

    Don Watson's elegy for an imperfect union

    • Barry Gittins
    • 22 November 2024

    Before the U.S. election, Don Watson predicted the electoral victory of Trump in his essay High Noon, an exploration of a divided America teetering on the edge. Dissecting the economic, racial, and cultural forces that led to a Republican landslide reveals an imperfect union at its most vulnerable.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    In Laos, war isn't over even when its over

    • Melody Kemp
    • 04 October 2024

    By the time the last American bombs had fallen in 1973, Laos had attained the dubious title as the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita. An estimated 270 million bombs were dropped on this small country, 80 million of which remain unexploded. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Before Hollywood, there was the Salvation Army

    • Barry Gittins
    • 29 August 2024

    In the early 20th century, the Salvation Army emerged as a dominant player in the nascent film industry. From pioneering filmmaking techniques to navigating the first moral dilemmas around film censorship, their cinematic journey is a fascinating, often-forgotten chapter in film history.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    A history of violence

    • Barry Gittins
    • 20 August 2024

    Emma's story offers an unflinching glimpse into the brutality of colonial Australia. While it’s worth celebrating the undeniable social progress made since Emma braved the voyage to Australia, we must resist the temptation to see our history of violence as consigned to the past.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Government delivers lacklustre response to Disability RC

    • Justin Glyn
    • 14 August 2024

    The Federal Government response to the Disability Royal Commission is in. Out of 172 recommendations, only 13 have been fully accepted. These included many reforms that were already partially in progress. Disability advocates can, perhaps, be forgiven for being underwhelmed. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    When a friend writes a controversial post, how should you respond?

    • Barry Gittins
    • 10 July 2024

    How do you respond, when members of your own tribe share their distaste towards those who rub them up the wrong way? Do you ‘unfollow’? Do you engage? And if you vent against those who who offend with their own dearth of tolerance, are you guilty of doing the same?  

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Tunes, tales and true connections

    • Julian Butler
    • 02 April 2024

    There is beauty in returning to places that experience has made so full of memory that they have become layered with meaning. Just as there is in hearing music that you have listened to at different moments of your life, and that is filled with meaning, not just for you, but even moreso for the artist standing before you and in myriad different ways for the audience with you. 

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Charity begins at the microphone

    • Barry Divola
    • 06 March 2024

    A documentary about the making of 1985’s We Are The World holds many surprises, while raising questions about charity singles. These stars were rich and privileged and largely out of touch with how most of the public lived. But at least they were using their fame for something good, and wasn’t that something to be encouraged?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2023: He walks among them

    • Arnold Zable
    • 11 January 2024

    I spent memorable hours yarning with Father Bob and I accompanied the Father Bob McGuire Foundation food van on some of its nightly forays to parts of the city to provide sustenance to those in need. Invariably Father Bob would turn up at some point in the evening to lend his inimitable presence to the show.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Backwards to go forwards

    • Barry Gittins
    • 16 November 2023
    6 Comments

    How should our nation reckon with its colonial history and its lasting impact on contemporary society? From the stark realities of early settlement to the enduring legacies of injustice towards Indigenous peoples, this piece explores what it means for a country to grapple with its identity amidst a backdrop of change.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Another Melbourne

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 27 October 2023

    Set in a Melbourne bursting with bohemian allure, Chris Womersley's The Diplomat is a book of despair and the agony of regret. Intertwining the worlds of art, drug addiction and deception, the author confronts us with the question: how well can we truly know another? 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Stories of yes

    • Michele Frankeni
    • 02 October 2023

    From cherished family anecdotes to narratives that divide societies, stories have a way of bonding groups and affecting our thinking on the challenges facing our nation. It is our stories that either draw people closer or keep us from recognising the humanity in each other. 

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